Something Wicked This Way Comes
by Wickedgal08
Summary: An elitist group of female vampire hunters face their biggest challenge when a dashing, but obnoxious, group of male vampires settle into town. Soon lies and deceit from within threatens to divide them, and in the midst of all this beats the heart of a love between two women whose sudden and intense romance might just prove to be their undoing. Rebekah/Elena.
1. Chapter 1

Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Summary: An elitist group of female vampire hunters face their biggest challenge when a dashing, but obnoxious, group of male vampires settle in town. Soon lies and deceit from within threatens to divide them, and a greater threat on the horizon may just end with bloodshed on an apocalyptic scale, and in the midst of all this beats the heart of a love between two women whose sudden and intense romance may be their undoing. Beklena.

Chapter 1

Pushed To The Limit

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"You don't scare me," sneered the voice of former reporter Logan Fell, his features flushed as he knelt on the ground, his back arched slightly due to the immense pain it caused him just to straighten up because of all the wooden bullets which lined his stomach.

The blonde he was being interrogated by merely smirked, lifting up a foot before aiming a well executed kick to his chest, which sent him backwards, a howl of pain flying past his lips. Blood red lipstick, usually reserved for the odd night out, yet on this occasion used to make herself appear as a force to be reckoned with, coated her lips, which occasionally drew back to reveal an array of pearl white teeth.

"Well," she murmured, leaning in, practically tasting the loathing radiating from his skin. "I guess that makes you the biggest idiot in the world." She drew back, glaring at him. "Who turned you?" His silence infuriated her. "Oh come on, Fell. We grew up in the same town, a town that _used_ to be vampire free, and I'm expected to believe you woke up one day sporting fangs and a new dietary requirement? Who turned you?"

"Does your mommy know what you are?" Logan spat, wearing a disdainful expression. "_A hunter?_ I'm sure the Liz I remember wouldn't want her precious daughter mixed up in council business... or are you unaware Mystic Falls has a secret council designed to do 'your job'?"

"My mom is none of your concern." Caroline Forbes, on the cusp of twenty two years of age, aimed another kick in his direction, retrieving a stake from her pocket, poising it over his heart. "But I'll tell her you were thinking about her."

Logan snarled and lunged for her neck, fangs bared, but something shot past her face, knocking him backwards. He lay there for a moment, stunned, until something dug sharply into his chest, aligning with his heart perfectly before it was stopped forever, his skin immediately shrivelling away, now an ash grey in colour, his mouth slack from the sheer surprise he'd felt at having someone he'd grown up with (rightfully) managing to take him down.

Caroline stared at him, momentarily reflecting on the few memories she'd shared with him. He'd offered her lifts to the news station where he'd worked as a local news reporter when she'd been doing her work experience, helped her dig out facts from the archives when she'd been doing a school project, and generally just been one of those faces you couldn't help but know. She wasn't sure how she felt about his death, and he'd given her next to no answers regarding the mystery over who'd turned him – which meant there was probably another vampire out there somewhere, hiding in the shadows like a coward – but he was gone, and the job – for the moment - was done.

She turned, noting her accomplices, one bearing a crossbow, the other a handgun loaded with vervain laced bullets, and gave a frustrated sigh, pushing her lips into a scowl as she appraised her companions with exasperation.

"Gee, you guys sure took your time stepping in! What took you so long?" she complained.

"Logan Fell was a wild card. We all grew up with him. It was just a matter of who got to him first in regards to who killed him. You were doing okay on your own."

Caroline stared critically at her friends, who she'd known her entire life, and gave an exaggerated sigh.

To sum her friends up in a nutshell, they were both maddeningly unhelpful at times, but solid players on the hunting field. You had one brunette with baby pink lips and olive skin to _die _for, whose only solid flaw seemed to be the fact she had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever, at least not while her friends' lives were at stake. She was a born again martyr from three centuries ago, and, while it was admirable to a degree, Caroline could count on both hands (and then some) the amount of times she'd had to stop Elena from sacrificing herself (because for some strange reason a lot of vampires fixated on Elena, and nobody could really figure out why) to save her friends by putting herself in the line of fire.

Bonnie Bennett really was no better on the self-preservation front. A petite, dark skinned, curly haired beauty - the youngest of the group, but by no means the weakest - she was undoubtedly the most intelligent of the bunch, always digging up fresh research about the vampires they hunted, always finding that there was something new to learn, a new method of attack they hadn't tried yet.

Caroline couldn't really put a label on herself, much as she tried. She just knew she was physically strong, capable of manipulation, capable of charming a vampire into thinking he was getting a free meal for the evening, and then would drive a stake into his heart before he had even seen the flirtatious look in her eyes change into something cold and ruthless. She liked to think she was pretty, with her vivid blonde hair and blue eyes, but she tended to overcompensate for what was already there, mostly by trying too damn hard with any guy she had the chance to date. Most ran the other way because she was, and this was a direct quote here, "too intense". Bonnie and Elena had frequently assured her one day she'd find a man who'd be able to keep up with her, but she had her doubts, and it wasn't like in their business dating was a pastime they could keep up with, yet still she pined for love because it was the only cliché about being a woman she could claim.

"Rebekah ran you ragged again huh?" she quizzed, noting the exhausted look in her friends' eyes.

"Training blows," Elena, the brunette, stated, pushing back her hair to reveal her glossy brow. "But Rebekah says physical fitness is what saves our lives."

"What makes _her_ such an expert on such matters? She literally only joined our group six months ago."

"She saved our asses in New York, Care," Bonnie reminded her. "That nest of vampires outnumbered us and she took them all out single-handedly."

"Yeah, well, call me crazy, but that woman is something else," Caroline grumbled.

"You're only saying that because you don't know her," Bonnie pointed out. "She's actually pretty cool."

"But we are the Dynamic _Trio_," Caroline whined. "Somehow the Dynamic _Quad_ doesn't sound nearly as good. We've done everything together since we were in diapers. She doesn't get to just come in and mess that up."

Bonnie smiled.

"Don't be bitter – it provokes wrinkles," she scolded lightly.

"You gotta admit though, Care, she does know her stuff when it comes to taking down a vampire," Elena added. "She's strong, knows all their weak spots, has a ridiculous assortment of weaponry I don't know how she acquired, and she throws a mean right hook." In explanation to the strange looks she got from Bonnie and Caroline, she added, "Kind of got on the wrong side of her when we first met. Called her a stuck up hunter wannabe, and then my face was on the end of her fist." She grinned. "My fault really..."

Caroline pulled a face.

"Any news on any vampires?" she asked, changing the subject abruptly. "I'm still feeling pumped from taking out Logan."

"Easy, Lara Croft," Bonnie teased. "Let's take the day to recuperate, and I'll go scout out what I can. Got a contact who never fails to dig up some vampires."

"Is this the guy who refuses to give you his name?"

"I made some progress in that department actually. I got a last name – Singer."

"Singer?" Caroline wrinkled her nose with distaste. "Sounds like you got fake named."

Bonnie shrugged, dropping the matter.

"Who's going to take care of Logan?" Elena asked, motioning towards the body.

"I'll do it," Caroline offered, despite the fact disposing of bodies was inherently the worst part of this whole business for her.

"Need any help?"

"Nah, should be okay."

"I'll start seeing if he turned anyone, although from the looks of things he'd probably only just turned himself. The clumsy trail of bodies he left indicates newborn vampire, and he wasn't exactly eager to volunteer answers as to who might've turned him, so that leads us back to square one," Bonnie informed them.

"I'll continue my training with Rebekah," Elena said, "seeing how I've been out of shape since that vampire in Toronto nearly gutted me." She lifted up her tank top, revealing a scar which ran down her stomach, still raw around the fringes, but otherwise a perfect example of where carelessness could get you. "Really wish we'd known then that vervain bullets could slow the bastards down."

"To be fair, though, we had just started out," Bonnie reasoned. "I mean, I got cocky a couple of times – nearly lost an ear because of it."

"And I nearly ruined a perfect manicure because some plaid wearing creep decided that picking on blondes was his new hobby," Caroline growled, bristling at the memory. "We've all suffered because we thought this would be easy. Stake a few vampires, rid the world of a few monsters... then go shopping and do it all again the next day. It's harder than we thought. The bastards are getting craftier."

The other two nodded, interrupted by the sound of heels as a stunning blonde woman entered the vicinity, the way she walked a good indicator of who she was as a person: confident, self-assured, with a little bit of an edge.

She was undoubtedly beautiful, with her hair currently tied up in a messy ponytail, her eyes a deep green you found yourself falling into, as if they were miniature oceans dragging you under time and time again. Her fashion, even Caroline admitted on a regular basis, was flawless, and right now she wore stylish skinny jeans, accompanied by a loose fitting white top, which rippled around the collar area, finished off with some dark leather boots which cut off just below her knees.

"It took you seven hours to find and track a newbie vampire?" she asked incredulously, raising a lone eyebrow. "Seriously? I could've tracked him, stake him, and mounted him on my wall within an _hour_."

"That's because you seem to possess supernatural skills that we don't," Caroline fired back, instantly irritated. "We've known Logan all our lives, so excuse us for wanting to make _absolutely sure _he was a vampire. Where's your compassion?"

"Compassion is the enemy of a hunter, Caroline," Rebekah retorted. "Even if it's your loved one, you have to abandon your emotions and do the right thing. The moment you become a vampire hunter, you're signing your compassion away, or do I need to spell it out for you?"

"Easy, Rebekah," Elena cautioned, always the middle woman when things between Rebekah and Caroline got too heated, which they did on numerous occasions given the fact they were both stubborn women with their own way of tackling situations. "You taught us to be absolutely sure before we attacked; that's what we were doing. All signs pointed to Logan, but we waited to see if he led us to his sire, or a nest of vampires. That's basic protocol."

Caroline flashed Elena a grateful look, but Rebekah still looked dubious.

"Uncertainty can end your lives," she drawled. "So while I admire the Nancy Drew-ness of it all, I do expect my training to have at least sharpened your minds – a pipe dream, at this point, but maybe my expectations of you _were_ too high..."

"How very dare you, "Caroline began, instantly furious, but Bonnie dragged her away before they could engage in a full on catfight, leaving Elena and Rebekah alone.

Rebekah shook her head, evidently displeased with the day's events.

"You could go easier on us you know," Elena suggested, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "We've all lost people because of the vampires. Nobody wants to take them down more than we do. But they're getting smarter, you have to admit that!"

"That's because you're making yourselves widely known in the vampire community. You kill them in open places, where anybody could walk by and see. It's reckless. Vampires might be solitary for the most part, but it doesn't mean they don't talk. The word soon gets round. I wouldn't be surprised if you three have your own wanted posters in the vampire community at this point."

Elena glared at her.

"We're trying our best here, Rebekah. Give us some credit. Why do you insist on pushing us so damn hard?"

Rebekah pursed her lips, assessing her coldly before her mask dropped, revealing a weary woman in her early twenties who had seen everything the world had to offer – good and bad – and who'd begun to grow exhausted with life as a result.

"Because I know what it's like to lose someone to a supernatural creature of superior strength," she admitted. "My youngest brother was killed by a werewolf pack we once called neighbours. He never saw the attack coming. That's why I'm pushing you so damn hard: because I know what it's like to believe the best in people only for them to end up betraying you. If you shortlist the people you can trust, sifting out the people you know for sure with the potential to betray you, you have a better chance of surviving, take it from me."

Her nostrils flared as she ranted, her eyes flashing with fire one moment, the flames soon doused with an ice cold barrier nothing could penetrate, and it was then Elena realised Rebekah wasn't this cold on purpose; life had just moulded her into this distrustful, paranoid, vengeful woman intent on slaying anything demonic to secure some peace of mind for herself.

Elena could relate to that.

"How old was he?" she couldn't help but ask.

"About nine years old...maybe ten." Rebekah pinched the ridge of her nose, suddenly looking exhausted. "I forget because it feels like it happened a thousand years ago."

"You never talk about yourself," Elena noted. "You just kind of...swept into our lives."

Rebekah chuckled, but the sound was harsh, flat.

"I have good reason for keeping my distance. I know what it's like to trust and then be stabbed in the back," she said. "People earn my trust, I let them in, and then they're gone when the moment really counts. I've learned over the years to trust nobody but myself." She gave Elena a small smile. "It's easier that way."

"It might be easier, but it sounds lonely."

"I'd rather be lonely in the long run than ending up with a metaphorical dagger in my back once again because I let my heart rule my head. "One of my other brothers used to say that would be my downfall, my romantic heart."

"I thought we were talking about people in general... not men."

"Men... women..." Rebekah threw her hands up in the air. "Sexuality isn't black and white. It's a spectrum of colours which simply blend into one another. Truth is, I went to college... experimented a little, as one does..." she laughed, and this time it sounded genuine, free even, "...but it doesn't matter who I hand my heart out to, it always gets broken."

"If it helps, I know how you feel," Elena offered, wondering how she and Rebekah had suddenly become stuck with removing Logan's body.

"Your story can't be more tragic than mine – trust me."

"You want to see which of our lives is more tragic? Okay, boyfriend one – Matt; we were boyfriend and girlfriend in high school – cheerleader and jock – the perfect, most clichéd couple you can ever image. The unofficial story of how we broke up – the one we told everyone – was that we just wanted different things. I guess in a way that wasn't a lie. I caught him cheating, and he broke my heart. In fact, since then, every boyfriend I have ever had, and there have been a fair few – not quite in the double digits however – found a reason to look for love elsewhere, without telling me that's what we were doing."

Rebekah's permanent glare softened a fraction.

"And yet Caroline tells me you're still hoping to find Mr Right? How do you actively keep on looking for love, even after being betrayed all those times?"

"I choose to believe in the best of people...even if people make it hard for me to believe in the best of me sometimes," Elena confessed, shrugging her shoulders. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"No..." Rebekah gave her a half smile. "You're exactly who I was the second to last time I fell in love – vaguely hopeful that the next time I fell in love, it would be the last." She cleared her throat, a cold mask frosting her features. "Anyway, enough with the sentiment... it's useless here." She gave Logan's body a swift kick. "Since Caroline – yet again – has left us to do all the work, we'll have to dispose of this creep before people show up." She gave Elena an impatient look. "Well? Stop gawking and lend a hand."

Elena shook her head, biting back an equally as impatient retort, wondering if it was too late to take back the compliments she'd given Rebekah earlier in favour of some much more realistic truths that captured Rebekah's character far more truthfully.

X

_It was three weeks until her seventeenth birthday, so not exactly a milestone but regardless Elena was looking forward to it. Caroline was throwing her the be-all-end-all parties, insisting each party had to top the last, and that was, apparently, her one and only rule regarding celebrations. _

_ Of course, Matt had been violently scribbled off the list, and there had been constant amendments to the invite list due to Caroline's tendencies to fall out with a different person every other day it seemed, but Elena was excited by the prospect of getting to celebrate with her friends. She was a party animal, she had to admit it, and didn't so much enjoy the social aspect of it so much as the dancing, the mindless gyrating against boys, giving teasing snippets of what she could give them before moving on to the next, the night always ending with her, Bonnie and Caroline giggling madly on the floor, usually a little bit drunk if it was a house party. Public events usually had them in a booth somewhere, exchanging notes on their guests, recapping the night with wide smiles and loud laughs. _

_ Right now, she was enjoying a going-back-to-school party, as everyone caught up with the latest scandals and heartbreaks Mystic Falls had to offer, and Caroline was chatting with Tyler, some undeniable sparks passing between them despite their less than amicable relationship due to the fact he – quite rightly – had Matt's back in regards to his and Elena's break up. She wasn't going to blame him for sticking up for his friend, especially when she'd heard down the grapevine he'd actually berated him for it before letting the matter drop. _

_ "Elena," came a familiar voice, and she closed her eyes, wondering whether actually thinking about him had actually caused him to be conjured up before her. _

_ "Go away, Matt," she implored, before attempting to walk away._

_ He effortlessly blocked her, his eyes pleading her to listen, and she stood there, both angry and heartbroken, wondering how the atypical good guy could do the atypical guy thing and believe he could have his cake and eat it too, and actually believe he could get away with it._

_ "I just need to say I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I was an ass..."_

_ "Yes...you were."_

_ "And I broke your heart."_

_ "Yes, you did."_

_ Matt closed his eyes painfully. "I screwed up."_

_ "Gee, you think?" she snapped, before reigning in the worst of her temper as she appraised him coldly. "Look, Matt, apologies when it comes to matters of the heart only get you so far. You can say you're sorry a thousand times, and mean it every single time, but it doesn't matter. You can't un-cheat. You can't buy back my trust with a single word. It's gonna take time."_

_ "Time? How much time?"_

_ She shrugged. "It'll take as long as it takes. But maybe we were wrong for each other. You had the future mapped out for us – a future you obviously weren't thinking about when you had your tongue shoved down Aimee Bradley's throat – and I - I don't want my future mapped out for me. I want to live my life and figure out all that kind of stuff along the way."_

_ Matt opened his mouth, but she was done listening. Any terminated relationship – romantic or otherwise – had a bank of so many minutes you could tolerate the other person before you had to cut yourself off, and this was her moment._

_ She made a half hearted excuse that she had to head home for family night (which wasn't strictly a lie, she just was technically missing out on it to come to this party), and yet, tempted to go home and just wallow, Elena called her mom, asking her to come and fetch her. _

_ While she waited, she felt like a pair of eyes happened to be watching her, but she shook off that feeling, hovering by the side of a lonely road a few minutes away from where the party happened to be._

_ Her whole world stopped at the sound of piercing screams, and before she knew it she'd barrelled forwards, pushing herself into a run, freezing at the sight before her, recognising her parents' car, which had collided with a tree, but that wasn't what had her entire body shaking with fear._

_ Both her parents were strewn on the ground, her dad unconscious, but she couldn't see the rise and fall of his chest to indicate he was breathing, half of his neck savaged by what appeared to be bite marks. Her mom was attempting to fight off a dark haired individual, who had plunged his teeth into her neck and appeared to be draining her. _

_ Before she could stop it, a horrifying shriek escaped Elena's lips, which naturally caught the attention of her mom's attacker, who paused, dropping his prey to the ground, his mouth covered with blood, grinning broadly as he advanced towards her. _

_ It was like a horror movie, except there was no control to turn off the television when things became too scary to deal with. Elena couldn't physically move; terror rooted her to the ground, but even through the paralysing fear, her brain managed to coax a little movement out of her as she took a step back. The beast before her – there was no other word to describe him, because monster seemed too vague a word – snarled, the motion revealing a set of bloodstained teeth, and then suddenly froze, taking in her appearance with almost a confused air. It was in that moment that Elena almost saw a civil air to this beast, this unnameable fear (if she gave it a name, her mind theorised, it only became real, even though she was pretty sure she knew what he was anyway), and then that moment disappeared as he blurred towards her, grabbed her head and locked his eyes on hers._

_ The rest, as they say, was history, and yet ironically Elena would never forget the first time she was compelled. _

_ The memory was eventually forced back into her head, during an incident which fuelled her anger towards vampires, and awoke the burning desire to slay them all, but up until that point she, like the rest of the world, believed her parents' deaths to have been the result of a tragic car accident._

_ When she eventually found out, Elena couldn't work out which was the worst fate to have gone through: believing a lie for so many years, or knowing the truth and being (at the time) powerless to do anything about it. The truth, no matter how horrific it might be, is always easier to deal with than a lie; a lie might placate, soothe and/or comfort, but in the end it's the equivalent of burying something in the earth; sooner or later, it's bound to surface in some shape or form._

_ The way Elena found out the truth was nothing short of horrific, but in the end it taught her one thing: she was strong, and life could throw every obstacle, every hurt her way, and she could still cope. _

_ But that night still damaged her, regardless of what she did or did not remember, and she remembered it as such as the night that everything changed._

X

"Keep 'em coming," Elena ordered the bartender, in reference to the vodka shots she was currently necking back fast and furiously.

"So this is how you wind down after a hard day's work," Rebekah drawled, sliding into the stool next to her. "Interesting, although rather clichéd for my liking."

"It's just something I do, okay?" Elena said churlishly. "It's a ritual at this point."

"Why?"

Elena scrutinised her, then shook her head.

"You're not ready."

"Ready for what?"

"When we know each other a little better, remind me of this conversation – because I certainly won't remember – and then I'll tell you."

Rebekah rolled her eyes, something Elena didn't miss, even as her sobriety gradually started to disappear, shot by shot.

After a shower, followed by a subsequent bath – another ritual Elena kept to herself, with another equally good story behind it – she'd changed into a dark, tight fitting shirt, matched with jeans which had seen better days, and ankle boots. It wasn't exactly a going-out outfit, but she felt comfortable in it, and it helped shed the hunter identity for the night, so she could pass off as a reasonably normal individual pursuing normal activities.

Activities which, unfortunately, included eye stalking her ex-boyfriend, who happened to work in the Grill, and happened to look surprisingly good with a towel slung haphazardly across his shoulder.

"Which boyfriend do you happen to be eye stalking right now?" Rebekah asked intuitively.

"Number one," Elena grumbled, holding up one finger as if Rebekah needed a visual representation of the number. "Matt Donovan – everyone's golden boy."

"Does he know you come here and check him out, not too subtly I might add?"

Elena shook her head fervently.

"Even though we broke up under horrible circumstances, we sort of parted ways amicably... which makes no sense, I know, but I don't do drama, or confrontation. I don't like the idea that someone out there might have a reason to dislike, hate or otherwise feel negatively about me."

"Well, that's stupid. You can't control what people think of you, Elena."

Elena gave her a cross look.

"I know that. But then again I can control the way I act around people." She gulped down another vodka shot, the slur in her voice become more and more pronounced as the evening went on. "Caroline doesn't trust you, you know."

"She's made that perfectly clear," Rebekah replied wryly. "The girl can't show an ounce of tact or subtlety, which is fine. I'm used to being the girl nobody trusts."

"I trust you," Elena announced, resting her hand comfortably on top of Rebekah's, aware the action sent a series of unexplainable tingles running up and down her arm, producing goosebumps as a results.

"The fact I've earned the trust of a semi-alcoholic suddenly makes my life worthwhile," Rebekah sniped, but a genuine smile, tinged with humour, couldn't help but make its way to the surface.

"Alcohol is so gooood," Elena declared giddily, and it was at that point Rebekah decided to intervene.

"Okay, Drunkie Drunkerson – we're taking you home," she announced, looping an arm around her, "I'm cutting you off."

"Why?" Elena whined, but she made no physical gesture of protestation, merely allowing Rebekah to lead her out of the bar.

"Because alcohol leads you into making stupid decisions, and lest you forget, we have early morning training tomorrow."

"How early is early?"

"Six a.m. sharp," Rebekah said, eyeing her warily. "Although I suspect we might have to push that up to eight, given the fact you're going to wake up with a bitching headache, and a temper which somehow manages to make _me_ seem like the most patient and understanding person in the world."

Elena made a noncommittal sound, merely staggering along, even in her flat ankle boots, as she clung to Rebekah like a lifeline, which amused the latter to no end, given the fact that this encounter, though far from what she'd hoped for, was the embodiment of someone trusting her. It felt good, though she kept herself from keeping too involved with Elena and her little gang, given the fact she liked to move from place to place, never sticking around long enough to call a place home. It was sad, but that was her truth.

"Bet ya wondering why I get hammered so often, right?" Elena slurred, still able to form complete sentences, even if they were fragmented by the odd hiccup.

"Everyone who turns to alcohol for their solution might claim to have different reasons for doing so, but there's always one common underlying reason why they do – to forget. Everyone always has something they want to forget when they drink, whether it's stress, heartache, or a rough day at work – sometimes all three," Rebekah replied curtly. "You're past the point of sober return right now, Elena, so don't try and make me your designated driver every time you want to forget the horrors you've faced that particular day. I don't do friends, and I don't do chauffeuring, okay?"

Elena gave her what she supposed to be a glare, but it looked like she was squinting instead, which ruined the effect she was going for.

"You don't know anything about me," she said snippily, hiccupping loudly. "I don't drink to getfor – f-forget..." she paused, "...whatever. S'hard word to say."

Rebekah gave her an icy stare.

"We're not close, Elena, but don't ever lie to me. You don't want to tell me what it is you're trying to forget, fine, but don't try and make out you're different than everyone else who clings to a bar stool and orders shot after shot. You're trying to erase something – hurt, pain, grief, whatever – so don't try and treat me like I don't get it."

But her words were lost on Elena, whose eyes glazed over, and as Rebekah steered her towards her car, she began to wonder what she'd gotten herself into with this rag tag bunch of girls, whose motivations for doing what they did were a mystery. She knew something had to have happened in each of these girls' lives which had motivated them into becoming hunters, a loss of some kind, but they weren't sharing, and she wasn't asking. You didn't get too personal with these hunters; you often found they tended to have a lot of baggage, a lot of drama, and Rebekah wasn't here for that.

All the same, she couldn't help but muse on Elena, who was an enigma as well as being very easy on the eyes. Just what was it that had her reaching for a bottle of liquor after every hunt – she'd noticed the pattern, hence the solo intervention, although she'd not really done any intervening – always reaching the point of complete and utter intoxication before ending up in her car, sleeping the alcohol off in the back seat? What was it about this girl that had her instantly intrigued, when up until this point she'd made a point to remain firmly detached from the clique Elena and her friends had formed since childhood, in an effort to remain drama-free?

Rebekah had typically been drawn to men, and not just ordinary men: men who tended to thirst for power, or who had been particularly charismatic, and the women she'd loved and lost had tended to be both outspoken and, frankly, overemotional. She couldn't cope with the extremes both genders presented, and Elena was kind of a weird combination of both – charismatic, with the tendency to appear vulnerable, and she found that oddly appealing.

She shook her head, dismissing these thoughts before they had time to root themselves into her subconscious.

_Don't let yourself fall again, _her heart cautioned. _You won't always be able to pick yourself up._

_ Baby steps, _her head, remarkably, agreed. _Just be cautious. It won't kill you to just be careful._

Rebekah glanced at Elena, who slumped in the passenger seat, who was attempting to hide tears she must've been hoping her companion couldn't see.

Out of courtesy, she looked away, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

_I really can't become this girl's confidante, _she thought. _Nothing good could come from being her friend._

And with this thought, she started the car up, and decided to drop off Elena and then to backpedal to the bar so she could drown these strange thoughts in alcohol.

* * *

A/n: Dedicated to my lovely bestie Hazel. 3 This is the first femslash multi-chaptered fic I've done, and this will be a slow burner. As chapters progress, we'll see what incidents triggered off Bonnie, Elena and Caroline's need to slay vampires, and a dark and cruel plot unfolds threatening the life of one of them, and Rebekah's agenda will be explored more as the story unfolds. Some elements/plots from the show will be explored here but mostly it's AU, so I hope you enjoy. I haven't decided who to pair Caroline and Bonnie with just yet, so I'm open to suggestions but they will play a vital role in this story. Hope you read and review if you like it, and even if femslash isn't your thing, perhaps read anyway for the plot as I have so much planned for this, so much to incorporate including mythology, action, adventure, and slow burning love. If you've read this author's note, bless you for doing so, and hope you enjoy the story!


	2. Chapter 2

Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Summary: An elitist group of female vampire hunters face their biggest challenge when a dashing, but obnoxious, group of male vampires settle in town. Soon lies and deceit from within threatens to divide them, and a greater threat on the horizon may just end with bloodshed on an apocalyptic scale, and in the midst of all this beats the heart of a love between two women whose sudden and intense romance may be their undoing. Beklena.

Chapter 2

The Edge of Insanity

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Elena was acutely aware as she was training that she probably would've been better off sticking with the cheerleading.

Running across a weathered down track in the woods she'd grown up in, her hair tied back into a tight ponytail, she tried to ignore the bleating sounds of Rebekah yelling at her as she ran alongside her, keeping pace perfectly. Sometimes it would be just general tips she'd shout, like 'move faster', or 'keep your bloody arms tucked in, it's not hard for god's sake!' (sometimes she would contradict her orders just to make her life harder), and sometimes it would just be general insults to get her blood boiling to the point where the only way to blow off steam was to run it off.

Rebekah's fitness regime was usually carefully planned out, designed to test and improve the skills they needed to survive in a supernatural infested world. She would start the girls off with some basic running exercises – and by basic, this usually involved her chucking them out of her car after dropping them off in some remote location and barking at them through a megaphone for them to run as if an enemy was chasing them – and then would dedicate a good portion of the day to honing their fighting techniques. Elena was typically a charge-and-stab type of fighter, whereas Bonnie was more tactical and tried to plan out her attacks in advance, and as for Caroline, she was a combination of both – impulsive, but otherwise methodical.

As she ran, Elena couldn't help but think about the days spent combing these woods for her friends as they'd played the craziest games of hide-and-seek ever. Matt had been the worst hider, always choosing the same tree to crouch behind, and Caroline had always insisted on choosing the places which wouldn't mess up her hair or clothes, but had always ended up being tackled by her former boyfriend Tyler to the ground whenever he'd been the seeker and "found" her, so her aforementioned desires were always rendered moot. Those days seemed like a lifetime ago, yet she could still remember them with a startling vividness.

"Eyes ahead! Focus!" Rebekah barked in her ear.

"I'm running as fast as I can!" Elena wheezed furiously.

With a sigh, Rebekah gave her a heated look and then pushed herself into a faster run so that she was now ahead of her.

"Not fast enough evidently!" she mocked. "Vampires have the element of speed, Elena. No one's asking you to try and outrun them, but you need to be prepared for the possibility that you might have to outsmart them."

"How did you get so fast exactly?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Rebekah gave her a disarming smile. "I'm secretly a vampire."

Even in mid-run, Elena managed to get out a derisive snort.

"You are many things, Rebekah, but a monster you are not, although Caroline may disagree with me on that point."

To her surprise, Rebekah laughed, although her eyes lacked the right degree of sincerity to sell it.

"She does resent me with a _deliciou_s intensity," she agreed, slowing her pace so she matched Elena's. "How's your head today by the way?"

"Surprisingly fine given the fact I tried to devour the contents of the Mystic Grill bar last night." Elena gave her a small smile. "Thanks for taking care of me."

"Don't mention it...ever," Rebekah returned. "I charge by the hour for taking care of drunken people, just to let you know."

"Do you never divulge in a drink yourself?"

"Alcohol dulls the senses. Even if you think you're sober, any trace of alcohol in your system slows you down. I can't let myself be hindered by the manufactured product of a species desperate to forget the sins they have attached to their souls."

Elena frowned.

"You talk like you're from a different time. I'd never noticed that before."

"I was educated in several prestigious schools when I lived in England," Rebekah explained, "so perhaps it's just the way I phrase certain things, giving them an inherent posh air to them, which confuses you."

Elena ignored the subtle dig at her intelligence.

"No, it's not how you phrase things, it's the way you say them," she countered, allowing herself to pant in between each word. "You sound a thousand years old sometimes. It's weird."

Rebekah gave a flippant shrug of her shoulders.

"One of my brothers always said I had an old head on young shoulders, but I think when he said that he meant it to be an insult. I _was_ sporting a horrific bad hairdo at the time." She laughed at the memory. "I did resemble an old hag, but that was only because Kol, another of my brothers, had insisted on tackling me during a violent game our family used to play, and so my hair, rather like my family, descended into madness."

Elena couldn't help but note the way Rebekah's eyes lit up when she slipped up and talked about her past, despite her bizarre stance on not addressing it. It was a pleasant change to see, like watching the ice queen thaw out under a spring sun.

Then, as if she'd flipped some sort of switch, the warmth fled from Rebekah's eyes, and she increased her pace, as if trying to outrun their conversation, and Elena felt excruciating pain in her side as she tried to match hers.

They carried on this way for another half hour, with conversation kept to a bare minimum (if you counted Rebekah's sharp orders as conversation that is), and Elena gradually felt the loss of feeling in her legs. When Rebekah said that they could stop, it was with a half sob, half laugh that she collapsed, panting and wheezing. A good physical physique, she was beginning to realise, did not equal good physical fitness. Even cheerleading had been a struggle sometimes, although that could've been because Caroline had been just as ruthless as Rebekah at pushing her to her limit.

"I think we should call it a day," Rebekah announced, studying Elena coolly. "I'm not going to get much more out of you, and we should really save some energy for fighting later."

Elena couldn't make heads or tails of the way her companion could just switch from hot to cold in under a second flat, but rather than aggravate her, she nodded, and decided to just go with her rapid mood swings. She had a feeling Rebekah was one of those odd characters you met who never explained anything they ever did, or why they were the way they were, if you pushed them for answers; you just had to let them open up in their own time.

She began some exercises designed to cool her body down, aware cold eyes were plastered on her the entire time. She paid Rebekah no heed, still recovering from last night's drinking session, aware the great pain she tried to cover up with alcohol still resided inside her, an irremovable mark akin to a tattoo which could never be erased. Maybe part of the problem was believing in this absurd theory that if she drank frequently enough it might just be enough to make her forget altogether.

"You gonna give me a lift back?" she yelled as she followed Rebekah to her car, watching as the blonde effortlessly slid into the seat and then started the engine, with no indication she was waiting for her.

With a devilish smirk, Rebekah turned back, moving the car forwards an inch which gave Elena her answer.

"Consider the walk back your cool down exercise!" she called, with a strange amount of mirth for a supposed ice queen, and then sped off.

"BUT IT'S FIVE MILES BACK, AND I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS ANYMORE!" Elena bellowed, aware of the futility of her somewhat delayed response. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME OUT HERE!"

But she had anyway.

Rebekah did her own thing, regardless of anyone else's input, which was something Elena was coming to learn about the blonde.

She scowled, annoyed, but not entirely surprised, with how this day had gone so far.

It wasn't like she didn't know the way back home anyway, but her legs ached, and there was a dull pain arising in her stomach, and her hair stuck to her face thanks to the layer of sweat she'd built up on the run itself, and all she wanted to do was go home, take a long shower, and then collapse onto the nearest soft surface so she could just rest.

With an irritable sigh, Elena decided she could either yell fruitlessly some more after her companion, or she could actually begin the arduous journey home, and she elected to undertake the latter after a moment to gather her breath, cursing Rebekah and her very nature all the way home.

...

..

.

"And you're actually surprised she left you behind?" Caroline snorted. "Sorry, Elena, but you kind of had that coming. We all know Rebekah is a dump 'em and leave 'em type of girl, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if her romantic history follows that exact same pattern."

The three girls sat in a booth in the Mystic Grills, nursing their wounds after another tough day under Rebekah's strict eye. Caroline had been pushed to her limits on a five mile trek from the centre of town to the fringes of the woods, and Bonnie was battered and bruised from the fighting exercises the blonde had put her through, left pale and stricken and rendered quiet by some deep emotion she wasn't, at present, revealing to anyone. At some point during the day, they'd been allowed a certain amount of rest before moving on to the next activity. Rebekah had this weird policy of ensuring that they did their training regimes separately at least a couple of times a week, but Caroline had sarcastically theorised it was because she liked to verbally pick them apart individually because as a group they proved to be resilient to criticism. Needless to say, all three of them were sore, tired and ready for a drink.

"I don't think her love life is for us to comment on, Care," Elena interjected, but she was too exhausted to try and summon up a defence for Rebekah's character, not when she thoroughly irritated with the vivacious blonde herself.

"You think it's okay to be drinking after your binge session last night?" Bonnie changed the subject promptly, eyeing the dark brown liquid Elena happened to be nursing, her lips pursed. It was clear she wasn't quite all there, but the concern she showed for Elena was part of Bonnie's nature, given the fact that they two, out of the three of them, had the longest history, knowing each other since they'd been infants.

"It's just the one," Elena assured her. "Believe it or not, that run earlier knocked the hangover right out of my head. Kind of did wonders for me, actually."

"So Rebekah actually did a good thing?" Caroline made a face. "Nah, that doesn't sound right at all."

Elena couldn't help but laugh, because Caroline's dislike of a person – any person, not just limited to Rebekah– showed so much on her face, even when she had to talk to them in a civil way, and it made it a more comical affair to watch as she tried to attempt to hide the condescension buried in every line along her face. Caroline was one of those people who firmly believed you had to click with a person to be friends with them, and that anybody you didn't click with it was for a good reason and you were better off avoiding them altogether.

This didn't make Caroline anti-social at all, but it made her extra cautious about who she trusted, because due to a traumatic event a few years ago, life had made it clear even family couldn't be trusted, and so she'd had to retire her bubbly, overfriendly personality altogether, creating a warier, but still bubbly, personality all for the sake of protecting her heart.

The fact of the matter was that Caroline didn't click with Rebekah, but the reason for which, Elena suspected, was down to jealousy. Rebekah's clean cut, overly beautiful facade, combined with her ruthless strength and ridiculously organised personality made her a worthy opponent, and Caroline was still deep down the competitive cheerleading type yearning to be top dog, and so that led to the two of them butting heads not long after they'd first exchanged equally wary 'hellos'. Elena found it quite fascinating to watch, and although she gave Rebekah a fair trial whenever Caroline insisted on holding her accountable for something, no matter how trivial the complaint was, she always took her best friend's side.

"Where are we off to next then, Bon?" she asked, nudging her dark haired friend with a smile, also appraising her friend with concern clearly evident on her features. "Somewhere glamorous I hope?"

"Like Vegas!" Caroline interjected excitedly.

"Vegas isn't glamorous, Care," Elena pointed out with a grin.

"Anywhere that has gambling, alcohol, and a ridiculous amount of lights to make it look like a giant fairground attraction is definitely glamorous in my book."

"Then your standards of glamour are very low."

Caroline poked her tongue out.

"Always gotta be a buzzkill, Elena, don't ya? We should just call you Buzzkill Elena."

"Cute."

"I do try," Caroline said, winking at her.

"Hey guys," came a familiar sound, one which had Elena instinctively on edge.

"Hi, Matt Cheatovan," Caroline greeted chirpily, though her eyes narrowed into slits. "How's the love life?"

"Caroline," Elena hissed.

She did not need her friends to still be angry with him on her behalf, but the fact they resented him for her sake was nothing short of touching.

"No, it's fine," Matt said dismissively. "Nothing I don't deserve."

He looked downcast for half a second, then rebounded surprisingly quick and took their orders before abruptly turning on his heel and retreating to the kitchen.

"He looks so sad," Bonnie observed quietly.

"Good, he deserves it. He cheated on Elena. Cheaters don't deserve happy-ever-afters," Caroline declared.

"I'm all for the Team Elena love, Care, but try not to rub it in his face every time we come here," Elena implored. "We're trying to be friends."

"Can't be friends with an ex, Elena. Haven't all the rom-com movies we've watched over the years taught us that?"

Elena rolled her eyes but didn't press the matter.

"Speaking of lousy boyfriends, how's Ben these days?" Caroline then moved on to Bonnie's love life – or lack of one.

Bonnie gritted her teeth, looking paler than normal. "Stop asking, Caroline. He's history."

"He was a scumbag though, like a proper scumbag," Caroline ranted, unaware of the seething looks her friends were giving her. "Who has the time to be a chauvinistic douchebag in this century though, really?"

"Caroline..."

"I mean, his whole attitude to you was just insane. Asking you to make him sandwiches, joking about your appearance to his friends, calling you _his _woman, I mean it's so disgusting and so –so... "

"Please...stop." Bonnie snapped, slamming her hand on the table in a movement which had her friends instantly flinching. "What is this, anyway, _boyfriend honesty hour_?" She rose to her feet, suddenly looking worn out. "I just – I can't do this right now, Care." She exhaled sharply, visibly flustered, marks of stress sketched into her skin. "I – I gotta go..."

And with that she disappeared out of the bar, leaving a perplexed Caroline in her wake.

"What's with her?"

Elena gave her a quiet look.

"If you'd bothered picking up your phone this morning, Care, you would've learned that her grandmother died, okay? This was supposed to be a way of helping her forget her troubles, not reminding her of them."

Caroline suddenly looked stricken.

"Oh _god,_" she bemoaned. "And I was only dodging her because I just had no desire to talk to anyone after the morning _I've _had. How did she even have the energy to let Rebekah boss her around this morning?"

Elena shrugged.

"She said she needed to keep busy, keep her mind off the funeral arrangements, plus she only found out at noon, so up until a certain point she was blissfully unaware anything had happened."

"How did her grandmother - ?"

"Heart attack," Elena replied solemnly.

Caroline didn't speak for a long time, her expression one of misery.

"Why do I always say the wrong thing, or just fail to be there altogether?" she moaned aloud after a ten minute pause.

Elena gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Bonnie knows you're there for her. She just could've done without the reminder of her ex-boyfriend on top of everything else today, that's all."

Caroline slumped across the table. "I'm a horrible human being."

"No, you're not. Look, Bonnie wasn't even going to say anything to anyone – for some strange reason she has the need to bottle everything up, put everything on hold until she can deal with it later – but we were talking, and I noticed she was acting off, so I pulled a, well, a _you_ and got the truth out of her."

"That's what this meet up was about..." Caroline trailed off. "I _thought_ it was weird she was the one who got us together for a binge drinking session of all things. Bonnie isn't really a drinker." She glanced at the space where Bonnie had been sitting, frowning at the array of shot and wine glasses littered where she'd been. "Wow... she really needed those."

Elena nodded solemnly.

"Looks like it's just the two of us for a while, Care. Bonnie says she wants to handle all the funeral and stuff, and then she wants to take some time off from all this vampire business."

"But we can't do this without her. She's the brains."

"And I'm the beauty," Rebekah trilled, sliding into the seat opposite them, either blissfully unaware of the simultaneous transformation of Elena and Caroline's expressions into paralleled looks of combined dread and irritation or electing to ignore them. "What's going on?"

Elena shot her a look.

"Bonnie's grandmother died, so we're taking some time off."

"No, you're not. I don't care if the President died, we're getting you girls in shape and ready to fight vampires," Rebekah said coldly.

"Seriously?" Caroline demanded, looking close to boiling point. "This job doesn't pay, and it's _mostly _voluntary work," here she gave Rebekah a dirty look, "so in essence we make our own hours. If one of us wants to take some _needed _time off to grieve a family member, then they should get to take that time off, no questions asked."

"Fascinating," Rebekah gave a mock yawn, "your impassioned speeches really are quite moving, Caroline."

"Shut the hell up." Caroline threw her a disgusted look. "I'm not here for this. I'm going to go see if Bonnie's okay."

And she stormed off before Rebekah could get in another comment designed to ruffle her feathers.

Elena peered through her eyelashes at a momentarily disgruntled Rebekah.

"This bitchy act ... is any of it actually real?" she questioned.

"I assure you, love, it's all me, all one hundred percent real so no need to cry over it."

An exasperated sigh pushed its way past Elena's lips.

"You don't make it easy to defend you, you know."

Rebekah looked confused.

"Why do you even try then?"

"Because I was raised to see the best in people, even if they believed themselves not worth saving, and also because I've marathoned enough Criminal Minds to see right through this facade you put on."

Rebekah snorted derisively. "Unlikely, but please, do divulge your findings. Your bullshit might actually be enough to entertain me in this otherwise dismal town."

Leaning back in her seat, Elena cracked her knuckles, smiled enigmatically and opened her mouth to relay her findings.

"So this bitchy act is just that – an act. You push people away because you don't want to get hurt. You've been hurt before – "

"You're just repeating what little I've told you, so, so far je suis unimpressed," Rebekah cut across her.

Elena scowled but otherwise ignored the interruption.

"You retreat into this cold bubble that no one can penetrate, and you close yourself off, distancing yourself from anyone you could call friend, and you hide your heart away, only it's not just to keep yourself from getting hurt – it's to make sure no one gets close enough to find out who you really are, because the idea of someone knowing you, _really _knowing you, terrifies you."

Rebekah rose to her feet, quiet anger brewing behind the black pits of her eyes. She slammed a furious hand down on the table, leaning over so that she was almost nose to nose with Elena, who was surprised, nay shocked, to feel something – sparks of some description – ferment between them, not quite electricity but something pretty darn close, a feeling which had her shifting uncomfortably, her skin growing uncomfortably warm...

"Don't. Presume. To. Know. Me," Rebekah snarled. "I am not some fancy textbook you can read and learn in a day. There are things about me that would curl your toes if you knew them. Secrets so scandalous it would rock your _universe_ let alone your world. I'm not a girl you get to know, okay? I operate alone."

Elena rose to her feet in a fluid movement which had Rebekah leaning back with a degree of surprise.

"Then why are you here? Why are you training me, Caroline and Bonnie? It can't be out of the goodness of your heart – by your reckoning, you don't _have _one. So what _is_ your motivation here? It's the one thing about you I can't figure out."

An unpleasant sneer uncurled on Rebekah's lips.

"I'm sure you'll try your best to work it out, Elena. You make it your business to know what goes in everyone else's lives, so snooping around in mine should be no extra skin off your nose to do."

And with a flare Elena was quickly coming to realise was one of her trademark qualities, Rebekah stormed off.

It didn't tell her a whole lot about her, but Elena could glean this much from their few and far between interactions.

Rebekah was hiding something – and Elena was going to find out what she was hiding.

But first she needed to join Caroline and see if Bonnie needed any help with the funeral arrangements of her grandmother. Friends, after all, came first and then later on, when the dust had settled, she could get back to trying to work out the details of Rebekah's life, not beforehand.

_All the same, _her brain cautioned her, _be aware that some things are meant to be learned, and some are meant to be kept secret. Don't pry if you can't handle knowing the truth. _

She was sure she'd heard that advice somewhere before, but her memory failed at coming up with who'd given it to her.

Shrugging her shoulders, Elena went to the bar to pay their – frankly – overly expensive tab, and then left the vicinity, throwing one last look at Matt (because she was that weak, damn it) before she left.

.

..

...

Almost breaking into vampire speed, Rebekah stormed off to her ridiculously expensive looking property on the outskirts of Mystic Falls, flummoxed by her own spectrum of emotions, which now included a kind of rage you couldn't categorise into the normal sectors of 'jealous induced rage' or 'idiotic behaviour induced rage'. It was an internalised rage at how she'd let her guard down, thus allowing Elena a glimpse at the panicked girl behind the ice queen mask.

Once inside her grand mansion – which she'd never allowed the girls to come and visit – she descended the white staircase, finding the grand display of all her frivolous purchases – from the expensive decor, to the pointless furniture which she hardly used – didn't settle her like she usually did. The illusion of home, of having a place to escape to at the end of a rough day, usually calmed her frayed nerves, but not today. No, there was something about Elena which frazzled her. She let her get too close to the edge, and now she'd seen a peek of the apocalyptic nature of her true personality.

True, she'd not let down enough to warn Elena she was trouble, but Rebekah still felt as though she'd revealed enough to set off the alarm bells of Elena's curious personality, and that meant unless she did some damage control, she was likely to be found out.

Lesson one about women: never underestimate their powers to be able to find out any sort of truth, good or bad.

Her phone rang, cutting into her thoughts, and it was with a frenzied sort of anger that she answered it.

"Hello?"

"_How's my sinfully naive baby sister?"_

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm in Mystic Falls, I'm bored, and I'm trying to keep a low profile – how do you _think _I am, Nik?"

"_Ah, the joys of attempting to blend in to an otherwise dull-as-dishwater society. I don't see why you bother to be honest."_

"You know why I bother, you ungrateful bastard."

"_Tut, tut, such vulgar language. You know the score, Rebekah. Keep Elena there and none the wiser until I return in two weeks."_

"She knows about vampires, Nik, and she knows how to kill them. It's only a matter of time before she stumbles upon my secret – _our _secret, should I say."

"_I can't assist you until I ensure everything else for the ritual is at the ready. I lost track of the moonstone along the way, so that's been a damned nuisance to try and locate, and there's the matter of acquiring a werewolf and vampire to sacrifice too."_

"If need be, I can turn someone here and have them at your disposal," Rebekah replied, thinking of a certain blonde haired individual who she held a special kind of hatred for.

"_That's my girl. Always thinking outside the box. Now, remember, do what you need to do to ensure Elena remains in the dark. If she gets a hint of the truth, she'll run, and we'll have ourselves a Katerina situation all over again."_

"Got it."

Rebekah hung up before her brother could lecture her even more on the critical importance of making sure this ritual took place. He was an undermining, self-deluded, arrogant man, but he was a crafty and intelligent individual at the same time, and he'd been planning this ritual for a long time, making sure he knew exactly what it entailed and how it worked so that he could reap the results in the correct fashion.

She should've told him to let it go, to drop his selfish desires and just enjoy an eternity with his family, but he was impulsive and stubborn, and once he had a goal in mind, nobody could try and coax him to do anything other than pursue it.

Why did she continue to let men use and abuse her, she wondered? Some came in appealing packages, with gleaming eyes and sinful smiles, promising her love and affection, what she craved most in the entire world, and they came with an equally appealing package of normality, but they'd all broken her heart, and the few relationships she'd pursued with women had been equally as fruitless, because men were easily tempted into straying, and women were fickle with their own desires.

She hid a bitter tear, electing to turn off her emotions for the moment.

And yet she found even humanity less, the room she stood in felt larger and emptier than it actually was, her eyes taking in everything with a detached interest, her heart vaguely aware it was supposed to care about the fact she had essentially the equivalent of a modern day empire – the everyday man's empire, if you will – with no one to run it with.

Not that she needed love to be happy. She could function just fine without it.

But Rebekah knew her own mind - her own heart even - and it just craved a companion, someone to trust; an ally who would go above and beyond for her.

_You know, Elena's kind of gone above and beyond for you already,_ a tiny voice inside her mind craftily reminded her. _You know, by defending you with her friends, who are perfectly right in their assessments of your character. You don't make it easy for anyone to like you._

_Shut up, shut UP! You're wrong, _she silently screamed back. _I make it easy for people to betray me! If I've closed myself off, it's for a reason. I have to look out for myself here because no one, not even my own family, will do that for me. _

_Such a defensive tone for someone who claims to not give a damn about anything anymore, _her mind simpered sarcastically.

Rebekah's barrier guarding her humanity from seeping into her features suddenly felt weaker, and she knew that all the times she'd spent building it up had taken its toll on it. One day it was going to break, and the floodgates would open, and misery would consume her, but for now she'd kept her humanity at bay, indulging in some emotion, but not enough to make her essentially a sitting target for men equipped with false promises and promiscuous natures.

It was worth noting, however, that since she'd arrived in Mystic Falls, all the times she'd come close to letting true emotion flood her body they'd been triggered by one Elena Gilbert.

Maybe it wasn't men she needed to watch out for here.

_Interesting..._

* * *

Happy Christmas everyone, or if you don't celebrate it I hope you enjoy the holidays however you spend it. Finally managed to get an update, and I hope you enjoyed it. Certain parts of this story will keep in line with some canon events, but I've got a few twists and turns in store that I know you will just love. Adore the reviews I've had so far, so I hope you keep reading and reviewing. 3 Reviews will always push me into getting an update faster – hint, hint, hint lol – so continue to show your love for this story by reviewing, as it's always appreciated.

Enjoy the holidays and hope you have a fantastic new year!


	3. Chapter 3

Something Wicked This Way Comes

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..

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Summary: An elitist group of female vampire hunters face their biggest challenge when a dashing, but obnoxious, group of male vampires settle in town. Soon lies and deceit from within threatens to divide them, and a greater threat on the horizon may just end with bloodshed on an apocalyptic scale, and in the midst of all this beats the heart of a love between two women whose sudden and intense romance may be their undoing. Beklena.

Chapter 3

Never Smile at a Crocodile

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..

...

The funeral for Bonnie's grandmother was beautiful and sentimental, so everything Bonnie had wanted and more for Sheila Bennett's final send-off.

Well...mostly.

Sheila had been a very colourful character in Mystic Falls, and every year on Halloween she'd had a tradition of telling these fantastic stories about witches which had fascinated the younger children, but had led to some of the adolescents calling her kooky because the way she told the stories had made it seemed like she'd believed in their very existence, which had of course opened her up to mockery. The adults took no notice of the stories, generally viewing her as just this warm hearted woman with a passion for the occult and supernatural, which had been part of her career, so most of the eulogies given had revolved around people's recollections of Sheila's scariest stories, and the way she'd made Halloween exciting year after year.

Bonnie stood there, resenting all the false sadness around her, because, truthfully, to everyone her grandmother had just been this crazy old lady, a borderline alcoholic even, because how could anyone sober believe there was any truth to what she was saying? Why was it people could only say nice things about someone after they'd passed on? How hard was it really to pay someone a compliment when they were actually alive to hear and accept it?

Caroline and Elena huddled themselves around, always on hand to be a shoulder to cry on, but Bonnie wasn't a big crier. She'd shed a few tears when she'd seen the coffin lowered into the ground, but after that she'd kept a solemn air around her, accepting people's condolences with an almost forced grace, aware of who'd mocked her grandmother and who hadn't, not really sure what to do with the various stories people told her about her grandmother – some of them sounding like absolute bullshit - except to put on a false smile and act like she couldn't tell the phonies from the sincere.

"This is so depressing," Caroline said thoughtlessly, before she instantly cringed. "Sorry... wrong choice of words."

"No, you're right," Bonnie agreed, surprising all three of them. "Grams would've hated this whole thing...and not just because it was her funeral. She would've wanted it to be a small private ceremony – just family and friends. My dad insisted on opening it up to the public though."

"Why?" Elena asked.

"Because he ignores people's wishes, and just makes a point of doing whatever he likes even though he's hardly ever home to know what people would've wanted," Bonnie spat out, suddenly close to tears again.

Instantly, Caroline and Elena threw their arms around her, and she surrendered to their fierce embrace, appreciating them more than she could ever say.

"I'm sure Rebekah is throwing a fit because we all missed training," she said, changing the subject in an effort to lighten the mood.

"Well the bitch can kiss my hundred dollar boots if she is," Caroline declared haughtily. "I wonder if _she's_ ever lost anyone, because if she had she would understand why you might not be in the mood to be pushed around by an obnoxious, hot headed, cold blooded bitch."

"Her brother," Elena said thoughtlessly, with an air of absent-mindedness. "She lost her little brother."

Bonnie and Caroline gave Elena a simultaneous look of astonishment.

"How do you know that?"

"She told me." Sensing that wasn't going to be enough for her curious friends, Elena then added, "Look, she came to the bar the night I got hammered – beyond the norm, I mean – and she kind of... took care of me. We got talking and she let slip that information." She saw Caroline's look of inherent suspicion. "What?"

"She tells _us_ nothing, yet she opens up to _you?_" Caroline's eyebrows knitted together with confusion. "I mean, no offence Elena, but what does she see in you worth opening up to?"

"Oh nice, Caroline!"

"I said no offence!"

"Adding the words 'no offence' to an offensive statement doesn't eradicate the offensiveness of said statement!"

"Now _this_... this my Grams would've liked," Bonnie mused to herself, amused despite herself. "She practically thrived on tension."

It worked as a tension breaker; Caroline and Elena smiled and shook their heads.

"Sheila _was _always one for drama," Elena agreed, chuckling softly.

"Her bedtime stories I swear to god could've given horror movie directors a run for their money," Bonnie reminisced. "My dad at one point insisted I wasn't ever going to stay the night around her house after I'd had a stream of nightmares involving burning witches fuelled by one of her stories." She shuddered at the memory. "I still have that dream sometimes."

"You know funerals shouldn't just be about celebrating the good parts about someone," Caroline said thoughtfully. "They should be about remembering that they weren't perfect, and yet we loved them anyway."

Bonnie's eyes swam with tears at that.

"Caroline Forbes, where did you come up with that? That's just so perfect!"

Caroline looped any arm through Bonnie's.

"I have my moments," she replied softly. "I might screw up – a lot – but sometimes I _do_ say the right thing. Also, I think that might've been from a movie..."

"Caroline!"

"Kidding! I think..."

Elena and Bonnie chuckled, deciding the day Caroline changed was the day that life was simply not worth living anymore. Her inappropriate remarks, her borderline ditzy moments, her strength all just shone through one blonde haired package of just imperfect perfection.

"Want to hit the Grill and try and get to the booze before anyone else does?" Bonnie suggested.

"Best suggestion I've heard all day," Caroline announced.

"I'll buy the first round," Elena added.

"You bet you will, and then you can spill your guts as to how you've managed to get Rebekah to 'fess to you things that might actually make me hate her less," Caroline proclaimed.

Elena rolled her eyes, but smiled because Caroline could usually smell a good story a mile away – it was why she'd originally wanted to go into broadcast journalism before this vampire business had darkened their doorways – and if she wanted the truth, she had her ways of getting it, so maybe it was easier on this one occasion to just give it to her.

"Fine, but any judgmental comments and I'll put your old prom dress on E-Bay," she threatened humorously.

Caroline glared at her. "You wouldn't. That's an expensive, one-of-a-kind dress I hope to pass down to my daughter some day!"

"Providing you can find a man who you don't chew and then spit out alive first," Bonnie teased, joining in the banter.

Caroline rolled her eyes, before looking up to the sky and sighing theatrically.

"This is supposed to be your day, Sheila, and these two idiots are trying to upstage you. Now would be the time to send, like, a lightning bolt or something to frazzle their perfect hairdos." She waited patiently for a long minute and then sighed. "Yeah, nothing supernatural seems to be on my side today."

Bonnie let out a deep chuckle.

"You guys are the best," she said, throwing her arms around her friends. "Thanks for helping me smile today of all days. Grams always loved having you two over... though with you, Care, she said she could only handle you in small doses."

"Most people can't even handle that," Caroline smirked.

There was what appeared to be an appreciative rumble of thunder in the sky after that comment, provoking the girls to giggle, earning them some stern stares from the people around them, so they quickly stifled their laughs, adopted a sombre look, and then headed off in search of much needed liquor.

...

..

.

The moment she opened the door, Rebekah was acutely aware there was something different about the atmosphere inside.

Hefty men's cologne, which her keen nostrils detected in mere seconds, lingered in the corridor. There was also a kind of quiet to the house which felt unnatural, the ironic kind of silence you can only attribute to there being someone else in your house. She was also sure some items had been moved, like her hairbrush, which always lay in waiting on the side for her by the door, so she could quickly brush her hair before leaving, or after returning home. It always rested under the gold gilded mirror, where she could check her reflection for traces of imperfection. Vanity was her most human flaw, this she'd realised and appreciated over time, and she spent time, as a result, nurturing that flaw for the simple fact it made her feel human.

"Okay," she called, irritating tracing her voice. "You can come out, whoever you are. Breaking into a lady's house is just rude, and I hope you know I'll be breaking one bone in your body for every item I find missing."

"Aw, sis, why you gotta be that way?" leered an all too familiar voice.

She looked up, noticing Kol, her obnoxious brother – well, one of them anyway – leaning over the banister accompanying the stairs, his hair cropped, spiked and gelled so that he resembled some ghastly imitation of a generic boy band. He poked his tongue out, eyes glinting with mischief, and then he made a graceful leap over the banister to land playfully at her feet.

"Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance," she conceded begrudgingly.

"And you certainly know how to pay a man a compliment," he verbally sparred, giving a bow in jest.

"I wasn't paying you a compliment – merely stating a fact."

"Aw, Bex – you haven't changed a bit."

"So Niklaus released you from your latest spell in the box then," she noted, not sure whether to be pleased by that or concerned.

"Indeed, but he is as hell bent as ever on backing up his real family with a cluster of hybrid spawn," Kol said, making a disgusted face. "He's kept Finn in his box, though, which at least ensures a lack of dullness."

"That's our brother you speak ill of, mind your tongue!" she snapped.

He wagged his finger in her face.

"You made no valiant attempts to save him at any point, dear sister, so please get off that high horse of yours and join the rest of us as we fight in Nik's family style version of The Hunger Games." He looked at the expression on her face. "What? I happened to catch a glimpse of the film. Had lots of violence in it. My kind of film."

She shook her head, refraining from commenting.

"So Nik presumably sent you back to keep an eye on me, correct?" she said, again refraining herself from making a snarky comment at that.

"Correct, and he also wanted me, as your loving, doting brother, to make sure you stayed away from the boys in this town. Something about history repeating itself... yadda yadda yadda...he gave quite the speech on the matter. I managed to get the gist before tuning the rest of it out." Kol yawned pointedly. "But yes, in a word, I'm here to make sure you stay here until the ritual is completed. Elijah's dropping by too, and I'll be meeting up with him later on – oh, and some of Nik's friends from the 20s will be stopping by too."

"Nik had _friends?_ In the 20s? _Oh..." _Rebekah scrunched up her nose with disgust as her own memory answered her questions. "The Salvatores. Does Nik really need all available hands for a stupid ritual no one but him even cares about?"

Kol shrugged. "Apparently he's not leaving anything to chance this time... not after what happened with Katerina."

Rebekah made a distasteful noise, and then raided her own alcohol cupboard, handing Kol a bottle before he could make any comment on her being a dreadful host. While they drank, she took the time to study her brother, noting he seemed to have no queries about the century he'd woken up in. Occasionally she noted him glancing at some object with curiosity, but she knew from experience if he was curious about something, he tended to find out for himself rather than asking. It had led to him offending a lot of people in the past simply because he couldn't be bothered with the usual rules of etiquette, or even simple manners.

"I've missed Elijah, I must say," she said quietly, "I'm assuming he's made his usual plea for our brother to behave, only for Nik to have completely ignored him?"

"Indeed, but Nik persuaded him to join his cause with the simplest of arguments that he never actually means – that doing this will finally make him happy, will finally let him enjoy his family." Kol made a noise of disbelief. "The day Nik shows any sign of appreciation for any of us, I'll swear off violence for a whole year."

Rebekah had to laugh at that, because it was true.

Niklaus, for all his intelligence, never seemed to be able to comprehend what he truly sought century after century had always been with him – family. He lusted for power and loyalty, but those two came with being in a family like theirs, so why he wanted more was beyond anyone's understanding. She didn't know what was worse – his behaviour, or the fact his family let him behave that way because it gave them an easier life.

"So how are the _Salvatores _these days?" she purred, settling into the cream coloured lounger chair she almost never used. "Stefan say anything about me?"

She wouldn't expect him to. Their fling in the 1920s had been just that – a fling. His switch had been off, and he'd been a hell of a dance partner, yet despite the fact they'd made a pretty good team, she'd had to say goodbye, and that was because of Niklaus.

It was always because of Niklaus her flings – her reckless grasps at finding love – never lasted longer than a breath, and that was the reason (among many) she resented him, yet the bond of family, their ties to a promise made a long time ago, kept her loyal to him, though she hated herself for that loyalty. Every time she convinced herself to break free, something – the threat of being daggered, maybe some half hearted desire to keep her family intact and on as good a term as it was humanly possible to be – always kept her from running. Maybe she was stupid, maybe she was naive... maybe it was some combination of the two states, but either way she knew she couldn't abandon her family.

"Not really, but he doesn't say much I listen to," Kol jested, smirking. "That Damon character isn't much more interesting. Likes to talk a big game though. I almost like him."

"Almost?"

"He made fun of Elijah, so I had to snap his neck because that's _my _job."

Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Boys," she groaned. "How do you get anything done without us women?"

Kol smirked as he loped an arm around her neck.

"You haven't changed," he repeated, "and I _love _it."

.

..

...

After the wake, arms looped clumsily around one another, Elena, Caroline and Bonnie started to walk back, half intoxicated, half nostalgic for the days when they'd remained otherwise blind to the true darkness the world concealed.

"Do you think your Grams knew?" Caroline asked, the end letter of certain words slurring a little. "'Bout vampires – d'ya think she knew?"

Bonnie contemplated that for a moment.

"I'm shure she probably did," she agreed. "She wash very clever like that."

"Wash?" Elena giggled at the pair of them. "You pair of intoxicated idiots, let's get you home."

"Why aren't you ash drunk ash ush?" Caroline whined. "Buzzkill Eleeeeenaaa..."

"Becaush – I mean be_cause_ someone has to be the designated walker here."

"Grams always said you were the sensible one," Bonnie hiccuped, misery audible in her voice. "I miss her."

"At least her death wasn't down to supernatural causes," Elena pointed out, in a lame attempt at cheering her up.

Bonnie raised her shoulders and then dropped them in a pale imitation of a shrug.

"Doesn't suck any less, but you're right."

"Let's shnot talk about death anymore," Caroline slurred. "S'depressing."

"S'hmy Grams who died, I should be allowed to talk about her as much as I like," Bonnie shot back, alcohol stirring up some sort of bottled up rage she'd not tapped into beforehand, meaning even the most trivial of remarks was likely to set her off.

"Hey, hey... I'm not trying to offend..." Caroline began, but the damage was done.

"Yeah, you say that a lot, but guess what, you tend to do that anyway," Bonnie snapped, detaching herself from the group in an attempt to storm off.

"Guys," Elena became the peacemaker, inserting herself between the two of them in case a physical brawl broke out, "let's not do this. We've all drank a lot tonight, so let's all bear that in mind when..."

"Oh shut up, Miss Self-Righteous," Bonnie, surprisingly, turned on Elena. "Don't stick your nose into other people's business, okay?"

Elena blinked, instantly hurt, but she kept her cool, facing Bonnie's temper with a surprisingly even look.

"Bonnie, whatever you're really angry about, don't take it out on us, okay? We're here to help. Vent_ to_ us, not at us."

Bonnie didn't respond, the alcohol making her sway a little on the spot. A cold breeze sobered her up a little though, as she soon regained her balance, her eyes flickering from the cautious looking Caroline, to the calm Elena.

"I am pissed off," she admitted. "I hate this, what our lives are. I was in the church today, watching them talk about the way she died, how at least she went peacefully, and it just struck me that I was actually _grateful _for how she died. How twisted is that? It's the most normal thing that's happened in my life for a long time and it _sucks_."

She kicked a stray can nearby, and it made an unsettling loud noise as it bounced off the path and into the road, shattering the silence into shards which rooted themselves into their skins, opening the old wounds as well as creating new ones.

"She's right," Caroline spoke up, still clearly drunk but evidently affected by Bonnie's words all the same. "This wasn't how our lives were s'posed to be."

"No, it wasn't," Elena agreed despondently.

"You know I never told her about what we did," Bonnie said, sounding miserable. "She told me all her secrets about being a witch, and I just kept humouring her, never really believing it, you know? But if vampires can, and do, exist, why can't witches?" She shook her head, disgusted with herself. "Even with what I do, I still couldn't – _can't -_ believe witches existed, and she probably died thinking I thought of her as being just as crazy as everyone else did."

"That's not true, you know. Look, we all want to believe the people we've lost died believing the best in us, even when we know they didn't, but in this case I have every faith Sheila was proud of you. I wouldn't have been surprised if she knew you hunted vampires, and I'm sure the reason she didn't say anything was because she knew you could handle it."

Bonnie's eyes filled with tears, and without another word she fell into Elena's arms, sobbing into her chest. Eventually, after struggling to walk over to them in her heels while still intoxicated, Caroline joined their little group, flinging her arms haphazardly around them, the three of them stood there in the cold, each silently thinking about the losses which at this point defined them, and defined what they did. They'd helped each other through these fundamental tragedies, but in the end these events had been brutal lessons, teaching them ways to keep themselves closed off to the world to protect their hearts.

Elena, in that moment, came to an epiphany about Rebekah, following this train of thought, and she was about to divulge this to the others when their attentions fell on a sleek SUV, which was an unusual sight in a suburban area such as this. Trailing behind it was a blue Camaro, a really attractive looking car, if slightly beaten down.

The SUV slid to an easy halt next to them, the windows pulled down to reveal a man with cropped hair peeking out, his eyes trailing over their bodies individually shamelessly. He looked young – perhaps around the mid twenties mark – but his eyes gave away a glimmer of something unidentifiable which reached into Elena's soul and shook it mercilessly.

"Ladies," he drawled, his eyes landing on Bonnie, who looked slightly surprised by the attention. "May we offer you a ride home?"

"Abso – " Caroline began, squealing at his attractiveness, attempting to barge forwards, but Elena and Bonnie held her back.

"No thank you," they said as one, ignoring their friend's sigh of disappointment.

"Really?" He focused his eyes on Bonnie's. "Come for a ride, darling. You look like you could do with a little fun."

Bonnie and Elena, who were much more sober than Caroline at this point, instantly stiffened.

They'd learned to recognise the signs of compulsion, and thank god they'd had the brilliant idea to craft jewellery laced with vervain, which they never failed to wear, as well as mixing it into every drink they had, almost religiously.

They were unarmed, alone for the most part, and that worried them, especially knowing that their reflexes were going to be less than up to scratch due to their alcohol intake.

"Kol," rebuked a voice that could've thawed ice itself, so smooth to the ears was it, and Elena found herself inexplicably drawn to the sound of it. "That's enough."

The one called Kol drew back, his brow furrowed at the resistance shown against his compulsion. Another head popped out next to him, bearing an apologetic expression.

Elena's eyes widened at the attractiveness of both brothers, the second bearing auburn hair which was neatly tucked at the back, yet strands still fell across his face. He appeared older, but not by a great margin, and dressed in a suit it was easy to assume they'd been out somewhere formal.

"I do apologise for my brother's behaviour," the second man said, his eyes drawn to Elena, something in his expression keeping her from running the other way, like he was inexplicably fascinated by her appearance, though for what reason she couldn't say. "He gets a little... promiscuous after dark."

"Promiscuous," she repeated in a clipped tone of voice, noting with some disturbance that the other brother seemed to be eyeing her now, undisguised mischief haunting his eyes. "Well, better keep him on a leash then. We need to be going."

She grabbed Bonnie and Caroline's hands and pulled them forwards, hoping against hope they hadn't spotted her discomfort and recognised it as fear, otherwise they could kiss their lives goodbye.

But instantly Kol was there in front of them, flashing them a smile they didn't have to be vampire hunters to instantly distrust.

"Kol – " the second brother warned.

"What's going on?" a third voice joined the mix, the driver of the Camaro, who'd presumably only stopped to view the action, striding forwards.

Elena's breath caught in her throat, and suddenly nothing mattered anymore. Her eyes locked with eyes a fiercely cold blue in colour, complimented with matted hair as dark as a raven's breast, the owner clad in dark clothes, which fitted his dark personality she supposed. He glanced at her, and recognition flashed in his eyes, and she felt a ball of fear coil itself in the pit of her stomach.

After all, it wasn't every day you looked into the eyes of your parents' killer.

"Please leave us alone," she managed to get out, directing this to the youngest looking man, who appeared amused by her comment.

Bonnie's hand slid effortlessly into Elena's, and she knew without saying a damn thing that her friend had picked up on her fear and knew what it meant. This small action gave her a tidal wave of courage.

"Now where would be the fun in that?" Kol practically purred, reaching out to touch her hair.

She struck his hand away, prompting him to narrow his eyes meaningfully, moving towards her in a manner which didn't suggest anything other than menacing intent.

"For God's sake," muttered his brother, out of the car without another word, grabbing his brother's arm. "Kol, remember why we're here and _back off_."

"I'm just chatting with these delightful ladies here," he protested, winking at Bonnie, who'd completely sobered up at these words, shuddering with clear revulsion. "Why must you spoil my fun, Elijah?"

"Please let us just walk away and we won't say anything to anyone," Elena pleaded, careful to keep up the facade that they were merely helpless girls walking back from a night out, even though at this point she knew at least one of the three males harassing them happened to know a little bit more about them - well, her anyway - than that.

The raven haired man stepped forward, eyes scrutinising her carefully, his intense hearing probably picking up the sounds of her erratic heartbeat, maybe even studying the way her eyes refused to leave his, every fibre in her body screaming at her to run but her feet unwilling to obey the order. Bonnie's hand remained firmly in hers, and even Caroline had joined their ranks, though she swayed a little, her eyes flickering to each individual in turn, the woman in her checking them out with no trace of subtlety whatsoever, while the hunter inside her finally wrestled up some sobriety.

"Have we met?" the dark haired man enquired, directing this towards Elena, head tilting sideways with a mocking air of curiosity that had her hands clenching into fists by her sides.

"I don't think so," she shot back at him, but all too late realised her snippy tone might as well have screamed 'I'M LYING!'

"I could've sworn I met a girl who looked exactly like you a few years back," he said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Beautiful she was too, a lot like you in that department..."

"Damon..." Elijah warned, looking from Kol, who was eyeing the whole encounter with malicious delight, to Elena – and was that a look of concern on his face? – to Damon, his hands outstretched as if preparing to break up a fight.

"She was a lovely girl," Damon continued as if Elijah hadn't spoken. "But I barely got to talk to her before I had to leave." He gave a too-theatrical-to-be-real sigh. "Such is the way of things."

She trembled, but didn't waver, standing resolute in the wake of his unfathomably cruel gaze.

"Back off," Bonnie suddenly intervened, stepping forwards, pouring her fear and anger into her words so that she practically yelled them, giving him an intense look to boot which suddenly had him backing away, clutching his head in pain as he crumpled before her, turned submissive by, incredible as it seemed, her stare.

Bonnie, stunned by what she seemed to be doing, then, in a vain attempt to repeat this trick turned her gaze on Kol and Elijah, who also recoiled in pain, before crumbling to the ground, clutching their heads, roaring in pain.

"What are you doing?" Caroline hissed, frightened back into full on soberness, rendered frozen by her best friend's frightening behaviour, even if it did seem to be saving their lives.

"I don't know," Bonnie retorted, but suddenly feeling the urge to flee, she grabbed both Caroline and Elena's hands and they ran off into the night before the vampires could regain their senses and chase after them.

Damon was first to recover, and he made an instantaneous attempt at chasing after them, but Elijah swiftly blocked him.

"You two fools almost blew our cover – in fact, I'm fairly sure you blatantly advertised it," he snapped.

"They knew already," Damon snapped back. "I could see it in the Gilbert girl's eyes – she remembers me. I don't know how, since I compelled the memory out of her head, but she remembers all the same."

"They might know who we are, but they don't know why we're here," Kol pointed out, not as miffed as his co-conspirators at how the night had panned out. "We still have the advantage."

"Maybe, but considering that their professions involve vampire slaying, I can assure you the next time we meet, it'll be on their terms," Elijah retorted coolly, dusting his suit down as he rose to his feet.

"You know, I don't think the little dark haired brat knows she's a witch," Damon said, his tone thoughtful. "I could see it in her eyes. She had no idea what she was doing."

"Her powers are only surfacing _now?_" Elijah appeared troubled by this information. "We should inform Niklaus of this. There may be something else at work here."

"This isn't exactly Harry Potter, Elijah. So what if the girl only just discovered her powers now? It's not like there's an age restriction. I once knew a witch who only found out on her death bed of her magical heritage," Kol said, sounding bored by the whole matter.

Elijah rounded on his brother.

"She shouldn't have been capable of that level of magic if she's only just discovering her powers. First time witches always start off with basic magic: making feathers float, lighting candles etc... No, this was something else...like she was channelling something...or someone."

"Maybe she had a guardian witch angel on her shoulder," Damon snickered.

Elijah fought the urge to roll his eyes...and failed.

"We need to stay away until the night of the sacrifice," he muttered. "That means restraining yourselves from your usual parlour tricks...both of you." He glared at Kol and Damon in turn. "Got it?"

Damon simply threw him a bored look and sauntered towards his Camaro, no affirmation leaving his lips to assure Elijah that he would be on his best behaviour.

"You're such a buzzkill," Kol informed Elijah, smirking as he clambered back into the SUV.

"And that, dear brother, is how I intend to remain until our business here is complete," Elijah informed him. "So do me the courtesy of making sure there is no buzz to kill, okay?"

"No promises, brother," Kol replied cheerfully. "I can already sense we're going to have a lot of fun with those three."

Elijah didn't answer; he just simply shook his head, climbed into the front seat and started the engine.

* * *

A/n: I apologise for the delay in getting this chapter up, I just had trouble working out how to end this chapter. So several mysteries have already presented themselves in this chapter, one centered around Bonnie, and she'll play a massive part in this story, along with Caroline. There was no Beklena here but I'm building it up slowly but surely. I know where I want to end up in terms of getting them together, so just have faith that I know what I'm doing ;) thank you to all my lovely reviewers, you are just amazing. I will try and get a chapter up maybe in the next week or so, if I push myself, but if it's later don't worry, it just means I want to get it as perfect as I can for you guys.


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